ARISTOTLE. 151 



after, when they had received much injury from damp and worms, the 

 representatives of the family sold them to Apellicou of Teos the 

 books both of Aristotle and of Theophrastus for a very large sum. 

 Apellicon was more of a book-collector than a philosopher ; and the 

 result was that, in an attempt to supply the gaps on the transcription 

 of the text in new copies, he filled them up the reverse of well, and 

 sent the books abroad full of mistakes. And of the Peripatetic 

 philosophers, the more ancient who immediately succeeded Theo- 

 phrastus, as in fact they had no books at all, except a very few, and 

 those chiefly of the exoteric class, were unable to philosophize system- 

 atically, but were obliged to elaborate rhetorical disquisitions (prfitv 

 f.\etv (j>t\o(TO(f)e1v TrpaypariKw^ a\\a Qiaeiq \r)Kvdieiv^), while their 

 successors after the time when these books came out, speculated better 

 and more in Aristotle's spirit than they, although they too were forced 

 to explain most of his views by guess-work (TO. TroAXa tiKora \iyziv) 

 from the multitude of errors. And to this inconvenience Rome con- 

 tributed a large share. For immediately after the death of Apellicon, 

 Sylla, having taken Athens, seized upon the library of Apellicon ; and 

 after it had been brought here, Tyrannic the grammarian, who was 

 an admirer of Aristotle, had the handling of it ( cte-^eipiffaro 1 ) by the 

 favour of the superintendent of the library ; and [so had] some book- 

 sellers, who employed wretched transcribers, and neglected to verify 

 the correctness of the copies, an evil which occurs in the case of all 

 other authors too when copied for sale, both here 2 and in Alexandria." 



Plutarch, in his biography of Sylla, 3 confirms a part of this account, rintareh's 

 and adds a feature or two which is wanting here. His authority is account - 

 obviously Strabo himself in another work now lost, and he is, there- 

 fore, not to be reckoned as an additional witness, but as the repre- 

 sentative of the one last summoned, again recalled to explain some 

 parts of his own testimony. From him we learn that Sylla carried 

 the library of Apellicon, containing the greater part of" the books of 

 Aristotle and Theophrastus, with which up to that time most people 

 had no accurate acquaintance, 4 to Rome. "There," he continues, "it 

 is said Tyrannic the grammarian, arranged (IvaKevaaaaQnC) the prin- 

 cipal part of them, and Andronicus the Rhodian, obtaining copies 

 from him, published them, and drew up the syllabuses (^ivaKag) 

 which are now current." He confirms the account of Strabo that the 

 early Peripatetics had neither a wide nor an accurate acquaintance 

 with the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, from the circumstance 

 of the property of Neleus, to whom Theophrastus bequeathed his 

 books, falling into the hands of illiterate and indifferent persons ; but 

 of the story of burying the books he says nothing, nor yet of the 

 endeavours of Apellicon to repair the damaged manuscripts. 



1 In the parallel narrative of Plutarch the term ei/<r/ceua0-a<r0ai is used. 



2 For the carelessness of transcribers at Rome, see Cicero, Epp. Fam. iii. 5; and 

 Martial, ii. 8. 3 Vit. Syll. sec. 2(J. 



4 oijTro) r6re ffatas 'yvut^iJ.eva. rois TroAAoTs. 



